Walnut upholstered open armchair.
Identifier
FPF375
Title
Walnut upholstered open armchair.
Date
1890-1910
Description
Walnut upholstered open armchair with horseshoe back.
Full Description
This walnut open armchair has a horseshoe-shaped upholstered back in a moulded and carved frame, continuous with the back legs. The arms have upholstered pads and leaf carving with ball terminals, meeting down-swept supports moulded and carved with husk pendants. They join blocks at the tops of the front legs. The tapered and bow-fronted seat rail is similarly carved with husks and a knot, supporting a stuff-over seat. The chair is raised on ring-turned, reeded and inverted baluster legs with turned feet at the front. The back legs are similarly turned and raked. The upholstery and close-nailed tan leather cover are mid-20th century replacements.
The chair was made in around 1900 as a reproduction of a late-18th century style, possibly after a drawing, c. 1770-75, by John Linnell (1729-96) in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (Hayward, Kirkham, 1980). Frederick Parker & Sons used it as the model for a set of chairs for the Cunard liner, the SS Franconia, in 1923. Interior designers employed by Cunard were generally seeking furniture made in traditional styles; for example, for the First Class Smoking Rooms of the Franconia and her sister ship, the Laconia, the Cunard drawings specified furniture derived from Percy MacQuoid’s A History of English Furniture (1904-08) (Bland, 1995).
In the summer months, the Franconia sailed between Liverpool and New York, and in the winter was used for world cruises, until September 1939 when she was requisitioned as a troopship and refitted in Liverpool.
The chair was made in around 1900 as a reproduction of a late-18th century style, possibly after a drawing, c. 1770-75, by John Linnell (1729-96) in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (Hayward, Kirkham, 1980). Frederick Parker & Sons used it as the model for a set of chairs for the Cunard liner, the SS Franconia, in 1923. Interior designers employed by Cunard were generally seeking furniture made in traditional styles; for example, for the First Class Smoking Rooms of the Franconia and her sister ship, the Laconia, the Cunard drawings specified furniture derived from Percy MacQuoid’s A History of English Furniture (1904-08) (Bland, 1995).
In the summer months, the Franconia sailed between Liverpool and New York, and in the winter was used for world cruises, until September 1939 when she was requisitioned as a troopship and refitted in Liverpool.
Condition
Re-upholstered in the 20th century.
Materials
Walnut.
Upholstery.
Upholstery.
Physical Dimensions
H. 91
W. 58
D. 64
W. 58
D. 64
Parker Numbers
Plastic label inside seat rail: ‘OM 2074’.
Painted inside seat rail: ‘268/2074’.
Associated number: 2490.
Painted inside seat rail: ‘268/2074’.
Associated number: 2490.
Provenance
Purchased by Frederick Parker & Sons in 1913 for £6.10.0.
Notes
H. Hayward, P. Kirkham, William and John Linnell, London, 1980, Vol. II, p. 45, fig. 87.
S. Bland, Take a Seat: The Story of Parker Knoll 1834-1994, 1995, p. 55.
S. Bland, Take a Seat: The Story of Parker Knoll 1834-1994, 1995, p. 55.
